Let the last note finish before deciding whether the whole performance was enough.

Judgment tends to arrive before the thing is over, and once it arrives it starts collecting evidence. Halfway through a performance, a project or an evening, a verdict forms, and everything after it gets read as confirmation. The ending often changes the meaning of what came before, but only if you are still open when it arrives.

Notice the moment you reach a verdict on something still in progress and hold it loosely. Wait until the actual end before you sum it up. This applies to your own work as much as anyone else’s.